Burgess: We're capable of cracking top-four

Joe Burgess crossed for two late tries against Widnes

But he is not under-estimating the task they face, admitting they may need to go the rest of the season unbeaten if they are to finish the campaign in the top-four.

The Warriors’ win at the weekend nudged them up to seventh in the table, and shaved the gap on fourth-spot to six point, with 10 games to go - starting with Saturday’s trip to Catalans.

And Burgess said: “We’re not where we want to be in the table, we want to be in the top-four.

“It’s going to be hard, but we’re definitely capable of doing it.”

Asked whether he thinks they may need to win all their remaining matches, Burgess replied: “100 per cent. We can’t let anything slip. I don’t think there’s any room for error.”

Burgess’ two late tries against Widnes on Sunday added the crowning glory to a 28-12 victory.

It was their first league win since April, but their third match without defeat since key players Sam Tomkins, John Bateman and Sean O’Loughlin returned to the side.

But the 22-year-old says the 16-point margin hasn’t masked the problems which blighted their performance.

“It didn’t feel like a comfortable win,” he said.

“We definitely fixed things in our defence, and that was outstanding.

“But we turned over way too much possession. We need to fix up those turnovers.

“If we do that in a big game, we’re going to be struggling, it’ll punish us way more.”

As well as pouncing for two late tries, which took his Super League tally to 13, he also produced an early try-saving tackle on Stefan Marsh when they led only 16-12.

“They got a bit of a scrappy try, when the kick bounced off John Bateman I think, and they were boosted up. Luckily I was in the right place at the right time,” he said.

Wigan could – mathematically – still fall into the bottom-four, and victory over Catalans would secure their top-eight safely before the split for the Super-8s phase.

Burgess, though, says their sights are firmly fixed on climbing the ladder over the next few weeks.

Prop Taulima Tautai is expected to come back into the reckoning after missing the last two matches with a calf strain. Robert Hicks will take charge of Saturday’s televised match.